List of dams in de Cowumbia River watershed

Dams of de Cowumbia River Basin, uh-hah-hah-hah. Cwick to view higher resowution and read wegend.

There are more dan 60 dams in de Cowumbia River watershed in de United States and Canada. Tributaries of de Cowumbia River and deir dammed tributaries, as weww as de main stem itsewf, each have deir own wist bewow. The dams are wisted in de order as dey are found from source to terminus. Many of de dams in de Cowumbia River watershed were not created for de specific purposes of water storage or fwood protection. Instead, de primary purpose of many of dese dams is to produce hydroewectricity. As can be seen in de wists, dese dams provide many tens of gigawatts of power.

Major dam construction began in de earwy 20f century and picked up de pace after de Cowumbia River Treaty in de 1960s, by de mid 1980s aww de big dams were finished. Incwuding just de dams wisted bewow, dere are 60 dams in de watershed, wif 14 on de Cowumbia, 20 on de Snake, seven on de Kootenay, seven on de Pend Oreiwwe / Cwark, two on de Fwadead, eight on de Yakima, and two on de Owyhee. Averaging a major dam every 72 miwes (116 km), de rivers in de Cowumbia watershed combine to generate over 36,000 megawatts of power, wif de majority coming on de main stem. Grand Couwee Dam is de wargest producer of hydroewectric power in de United States,[1] generating 6,809 megawatts, over one-sixf of aww power in de basin, uh-hah-hah-hah.

In addition to providing ampwe power for de peopwe of de Pacific Nordwest, de reservoirs created by de dams have created numerous recreationaw opportunities, incwuding fishing, boating, and windsurfing. Furdermore, by creating a constant fwow and consistent depf awong de river channew, de series of wocks and dams have awwowed for Lewiston, Idaho, to become de furdest inwand seaport on de west coast of de United States.[2] Despite de numerous benefits to humans dat de dams have provided, a number of environmentaw conseqwences have manifested as a resuwt of de dams, incwuding a negative impact on sawmonid popuwations of de basin, uh-hah-hah-hah.[3]

The organization of de fowwowing wists begins wif de Cowumbia River dams and is fowwowed by dams on its tributaries (in order of wengf) and deir respective watersheds. Additionawwy, de tabwe of contents bewow is indented to indicate tributary status of each river.

^Originawwy constructed in 1894, upgraded to concrete structure in 1933, wif significant upgrades in de 1980s.[206]

^Beginning in 1892, dams were constructed at de mouf of Lake Chewan, uh-hah-hah-hah. After two faiwures, a more robust dam was constructed in 1903, providing ewectricity to Chewan, uh-hah-hah-hah. The current dam was compweted in 1927.[226]